Coned
by A Pretty Little Nightmare
Summary: After enough exposure to a mean girl like Chloe, even the kindest of people can be pushed to their breaking point. (based on a scene from The Princess Diaries)


Field trips were a rare occurrence at Francoise-Dupont High, but since the entire class had scored a B or higher on their last test, Miss Bustier felt a reward was in order, so the next day, the class headed for the zoo. Everyone had separated off into their own groups (Max made sure to keep Kim away from the big cats), and met back up a few hours later for lunch.

After about fifteen minutes, Marinette looked up from Alya's phone, where her best friend had proudly been sharing her latest entry on the Ladyblog, and noticed Nathanael sitting by himself on the other side of the seating area. This wasn't uncommon for him, of course, but for some reason, Marinette felt that he seemed more distant (and, possibly, lonely?) than usual. She took another lick of her ice cream cone and told Alya she would be right back before making her way over to their classmate.

"Hey, Nathanael," she smiled, sitting beside him against the fence.

He glanced up from his sketchbook and returned her gesture with a small grin of his own. "Hey."

"What are you drawing?"

Nathanael instinctively pressed his arm closer to the paper to block it from view. He eased off of it almost as quickly, though– after all, he trusted Marinette not to laugh at him. "I'm putting together a comic book," he replied, going so far as to lower his arm so she could see the page.

Marinette was impressed, though she knew firsthand how talented her friend was. The drawing depicted a fight scene between a superhero (who looked eerily similar to Nathanael's own villainous alter ego) and his female enemy (who bore a striking resemblance to another classmate of theirs). "Wow, that's amazing!" Marinette was tempted to grab the book from him so she could examine all the details of the illustration, but she balled her free hand into a fist in her lap to prevent herself from doing so. After all, the last time that had happened, it didn't end well.

"You really think so?" asked Nathanael, his smile growing.

She nodded. "Yeah, you're a great artist. How long have you been working on this?"

"Just a few months."

"Aww, how cute. Two little loser lovebirds."

Marinette didn't even need to look up to know who was speaking– the sound of the voice alone (not to mention the speed at which Nathanael went pale) made her blood boil.

Chloe went on in her signature condescending tone, leaning over Marinette to the point where the blonde was practically stepping on her feet, "That's such a nice little drawing, Nathanael. All it needs is some color."

Before Chloe's foot could connect with the ice cream cone in her hand, Marinette stood up. "Y'know, Chloe," she said, facing her nemesis with a sweet smile, "that top is so cute. I bet it goes with anything."

Chloe sneered, "Well, of course it does–"

The words had barely left her mouth before Marinette shoved her ice cream into Chloe's shirt, making sure to leave a giant, chocolate-colored stain right in the center as the mayor's daughter let out a loud shriek.

Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Nathanael staring wide-eyed at her (as well as a few, or maybe all, of their classmates) before Chloe screamed, "Marinette! You are such a _freak_!"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah, I am. But y'know what, I might grow out of that some day. But you? You will never stop being a jerk."

That was when the chanting started. Kim jumped out of his seat and shouted, "Chloe got coned!" Soon enough, the entire class was cheering, "Chloe got coned! Chloe got coned!" Marinette looked around somewhat bashfully, her eyes landing first on Adrien, who –angel that he was– refrained from chanting along (although he was definitely laughing behind his hands); then on Alya, who gave her best friend a thumbs-up as she continued to record the scene before her on her phone.

Marinette crouched down to take Nathanael's hand, and she brought him confidently back to her seat beside Alya as the class continued to chant for her.

Meanwhile, Chloe rubbed frantically at her shirt with a tissue and snapped at their teacher, "Miss Bustier, did you see what she did to me?!"

Miss Bustier looked up from her book innocently and shrugged. "No, I'm sorry, sweetie, I was very busy… Send it out for dry cleaning."


End file.
